Federalist-Whig-Republican String Never Broken Until Postwar Years

Besides earning historical fame for the biggest margin of victory ever voted in a Harvard straw poll, Lyndon Johnson also must be noted as one of a very small number of Democrats ever to receive this honor. From the party's inception in the 1850's until World War II, Harvard only once failed to prefer the Republican standard bearer.

Only in 1912, when local Republicans were hopelessly divided over T.R. (of the Class of '80) and Taft, did a Democrat sneak in. But he really doesn't count; he got a plurality and not a majority.

Before and after then, though, Harvard maintained a moderate conservative tradition that dated from the days when it endorsed Washington and Adams and chastised Thomas Jefferson.

In the CRIMSON straw polls on record, the University cast the following votes: